I've been struggling with the whole European Union Data Protection (EUDP) Regulation... the Cookie Consent requirement, and by extension the California Consumer Protection Act. It's easy to understand the need to protect everybody's privacy. It's not so easy to understand the technical procedures to meet the requirements. I'm a little more disgusted with government in general after all this. If they're going to make a law requiring compliance, it should be built into the process. Not laid on the end-user, many of whom, like myself, just want to write and lack all but the most rudimentary under-the-hood skills. We're end-users, not professional programmers.
I'm reasonably intelligent, but didn't want to spend weeks learning website code. Especially when the advice on the internet is confusing, often incorrect, and overwhelming. Or hidden behind a paywall, or a membership requirement. Just at the time you think you learn something, you realize that's just one step, and then you have to learn more to implement another step. Then you find out what you thought you knew was wrong, and you have to go back a few steps and start over. It's been frustrating.
In my last post, I shared a conversation with ChatGPT, asking for advice about how to comply with the cookie consent laws. The chat occurred on Friday. By Sunday evening (tonight) I've achieved conformity. At least, as far as complying with the requirements. Using the AI's advice as a springboard, I've learned what's actually needed, and how to approach it. It's not that ChatGPT gave me the exact answers to my questions. Rather, it gave me enough knowledge and understanding to find my own solutions. And that's all I needed. Just some honest, useful, advice.
To begin, I wrote a Privacy/Cookie Policy page. I learned the difference between writing a POST on Blogger, and writing a PAGE. Learned how to use a widget under the layout tab, in the HEADER section, which gave the blog header tabs, in order to have my PAGES easily accessible. Learned enough to follow (simple) directions from websites that provide the cookie consent popup. Figured out how to access the HTML code from the Theme tab, and where to paste the popup code.
Additionally, I learned that many of those "help" websites don't work. It took trying several, and tampering with the HTML code for the site Theme (the look and feel of my blog, provided by Google). I had to sign up for several services before finding out that the code they provided didn't function.
The site that worked for me, CookieYes, required a signup as well. They offered paid services, but lucky for me they have a free service that worked nicely. And included a tracking page, so you can track the consent record by IP address and date. (Yes, apparently you have to provide this in case Big Brother wants proof that you're properly getting consent.) To be honest it did a lot more than I expected, automatically. I had to sign up first, making sure I chose a FREE service, not a TRIAL OFFER. (Yeah, I picked the wrong one at first.)
Since I have some old blogs on Blogger, I'm not sure if they fall under some kind of umbrella, or if I'll need to do each one uniquely. But there's no pressure, because I don't plan on using AdSense on any of the others. I'll figure all that out another day.
Unlike some of the sites that offered free popup services, CookieYes' popup actually... you know... popped up. I had to give my own consent to view my blog with the cookies. For added confirmation that it's working, their stats page actually tracked when I clicked the approval button. It's SUCH a huge relief to finally understand what needed to be done, and know that it's actually working!
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